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How can we know what God thinks about gambling?
Question: Gambling seems to be everywhere today—I almost can’t turn on the radio without hearing advertisements for DraftKings or FanDuel. Is gambling biblically acceptable?
Answer: Scripture commands us, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).
It’s easy to see how gambling cultivates covetousness. When one gambles, one is coveting his neighbor’s money. He is not earning it or offering goods or services in exchange for it; he simply wants it while offering nothing in return. The Apostle Paul equates covetousness with idolatry: “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5).
Gambling undermines a godly love toward one’s neighbor. The gambler profits from what others lose. This involves a different spirit than we find in a game or a race, in which the winner may receive a prize but nothing is taken away from those who did not win. In gambling, people lose money so others can win money.
Some might be tempted to think that this does not apply to playing a slot machine at a casino, placing a bet on a sports team, or other forms of gambling in which one “beats the house.” But, even in these cases, the winnings come from all those who have poured money into the system.
This is contrary to God’s great commandment to love our neighbor. “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). God wants us to feel empathy for others. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). The winning gambler is rejoicing when those who did not win feel like weeping. “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). God wants us to follow His example and live a life of giving to others. Gambling, by contrast, puts our focus on taking, not giving.
The love of money—and of what it can buy—tempts the gambler to value physical things over relationships. Paul explained that “those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:9). It can even cause us to lose the most valuable possession of all—eternal life. As Jesus Christ says in Mark 10:23, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
Gambling undermines a godly work ethic, as we see throughout the book of Proverbs. For instance, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5). In other words, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty” (New Living Translation).
We also read, “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 28:20). Or, “The trustworthy person will get a rich reward, but a person who wants quick riches will get into trouble” (NLT).
And again, we read, “A man with an evil eye hastens after riches and does not consider that poverty will come upon him” (Proverbs 28:22). “Greedy people try to get rich quick but don’t realize they’re headed for poverty” (NLT). Money gained quickly tends to disappear quickly.
The desire for financial success needs to be framed in a proper perspective: God’s word teaches patience, diligence, and trust in Him as the provider of that success. “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22). If we learn the lessons of a godly life and look to God to provide our resources, there will be no sorrow added to them.